The Spread of Christianity in the Roman Empire

Factors Which Led to the Spread of Christianity in the Roman Empire

Christianity was not born in a vacumn. There were many social,

geographical, historical and religious issues prevailing at the time

of Christ and all of which were favorable to the spread of

Christianity.

Geograpicly, Christianity came into being in the Meditation world, the

largest of the various centers of civilization at that time. Israel

stands almost central to the five continents, dividing the east and

west.

Another factor, which many scholars believe to be the single most

important in the spread of Christianity, is the Pax Romana. This saw a

period of over two hundred years, between 30 b.c. and a.d. 193, in

which there was almost total world peace, Antoninus Pius wrote in

circa 150 a.d., " Wars have so far vanished as to be regarded as

legendary events of the past".

This peace brought great prosperity to the vast Roman Empire as money

was not being spent on costly wars and so materialism became

prominent, another consequence was that people now had more time to

think about issues such as religion.

Another benefit of the Pax Romana was that frontiers were removed and

so early missionaries could travel between countries within the Empire

with ease, "A man can travel from one country to another although it

was his nature land" (Pius). Also, because of a "considerable civil

service" (Frend) to police the roads, there was a great decrease in

the amount of bandits on the main roads and so the missionaries travel

was a great deal safer.

Another factor, within the Roman Empire, was the growth of a proper

system of roads and trade between countri...

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...he line between Greek religion and philosophy

because the various forms of philosophy were more than a group of

intellectual systems: they were a leading influence in the moral

education of both the educated and the masses and were increasingly

religious. The remain schools of Greek philosophy represented in the

Roman Empire were the Epicureans, the Peripatetics, the Pythagoreans,

the Stoics, the Platonists and the Neo-Platonist.

In conclusion, it is important to realize that it was not one single

factor which was responsible for the spread of Christianity, all these

figures came together to give the perfect platform for a new religion

to develop, " Never before in the history of the race had conditions

been so ready for the adoption of a new faith by the majority of the

peoples of so large an area" (K.S Latourette).